Two wheeled hand trucks are widely used for moving heavy articles. The basic hand truck comprises an upright frame, a handle and two wheels. A flat base plate or work support member is provided at the lower portion of the frame for sliding under an article to be moved. When the user pivots the handle toward himself or herself, the base plate pivots upward and the frame is supported entirely by the wheels. An article resting on the base plate may then be wheeled from one location to another.
Various versions and adaptations of the basic hand truck exist to provide additional functionality in certain situations. For example, in some embodiments, the hand truck is convertible from an upright two wheeled hand truck to a horizontal four wheeled hand cart. In other embodiments, the basic hand truck includes horizontally extending arms or forks that help in securing large items on the hand truck.
While various adaptations of the basic hand truck have been made, these various adaptations are not useful in all situations. It would be desirable if a hand truck could be further modified such that certain types of machines or other apparatus could be situated more securely on the hand truck. For example, hammer drills are often moved using a hand truck, but present embodiments of the hand truck do not seem particularly well suited to moving hammer drills. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a hand truck that facilitates easy movement of a hammer drill. It would also be desirable if this same hand truck could be used to move other machinery or apparatus in addition to hand trucks. Furthermore, it would be desirable if elements used to facilitate movement of a hammer drill could be easily added to the hand truck with minimal additional expense or adaptations to the basic structure of the hand truck.
While it would be desirable to provide a hand truck that provides one or more of the foregoing or other advantageous features as may be apparent to those reviewing this disclosure, the teachings disclosed herein extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the claims, regardless of whether they provide one or more of the above-mentioned advantages.